The visual data discovery (VDD) approach increases the probability that business managers will find the information they need in time to make effective decisions. This is the main reason behind VDD’s rapidly growing fan base. While traditional BI solutions can be invaluable, they do have limitations. Dashboards come in handy in few cases, but there is still a fundamental problem – the dashboard designer must have anticipated the need for that line of questioning or train of thought when the dashboard was originally built.  So, if unexpected questions arise, business managers end up making decisions without data, operating on gut feel alone.  And that means they end up operating without real answers at all! So, here’s the key question:  Do you ever get questions in your logistics operations that are unexpected and hard to answer? This is where visual data discovery tools excel.Visual data discovery tools provide a rich, visual environment that enables business users to easily interact with, and manipulate, information directly, hands-on.  They provide a compelling solution to help business managers explore data, without the assistance of skilled IT staff.

To know more, visit David White’s article by clicking on the following link:

http://logisticsviewpoints.com/2014/04/07/new-approaches-analytics-revolutionize-logistics/

Lean Six Sigma is a managerial concept combining Lean and Six Sigma that results in the elimination of eight kinds of wastes / muda (classified as Defects, Overproduction, Waiting, Non-Utilized Talent, Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Extra-Processing) and an improved capability of performance. The term Six Sigma is statistically based on the provision of goods and service at a rate of 3.4 defects per million opportunities (DPMO). A mnemonic for the wastes is "DOWNTIME”.

Over the years, this methodology has helped many firms to achieve process & output improvement. However, how about implementing lean six sigma concept to improve operating a city? That’s interesting! That was beyond our imagination. However, Tyler, a city located in Texas, United States, implemented Lean Six Sigma concepts to manage various projects and of course, with a saving of 5 Million US dollars, it can be said that the result was in its favour! Tyler Senior Public Relations Specialist Serena Butcher said the idea behind Lean Six Sigma is to identify waste and variation, so the city can save time and money and overall be more efficient. Mayor Barbara Bass also addressed attendees in a recent gathering to celebrate their success, saying, “In five short years, we’ve changed the culture of how we look at our jobs at city hall.”

To read more about how implementing Lean Six Sigma concepts actually worked for the City of Tyler, visit the following link address:

http://www.tylerpaper.com/TP-News+Local/197509/lean-six-sigma-city-of-tyler-celebrates-over-5-million-in-savings-with-program#.U0I6iqhgXgw

David Waterman, expert in search engine optimization, talks about how marketers can take advantage of social media to spy on their customers and target audience to gather better insights. He also discussed about the five different steps to be followed for enhancing the process.

To know more about the steps follow http://marketingland.com/social-media-perfect-tool-spying-customers-76595

An article by Devin Redmond, Co-founder and CEO of Nexgate, talks about how social media spam can damage a brand name and how it affects social media marketing ROI. He also spoke about different steps that social media marketers can adopt to stop social spam and mitigate loss.

For more information visit http://socialmediatoday.com/1865971/state-social-media-spam-social-media-spam-rise

Lean and Six Sigma are popular techniques used in production industries to improve efficiency and quality. Now these process improvement techniques are also applied in healthcare and in software development. To read more about how Lean and Six Sigma can be applied in clinical and translational research, visit Sharon A. Schweikhart (Ph.D.) and Allard E Dembe (Sc.D.)’s, article link as given below

For more please visit: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2835466/

A recent research by Fast Company revealed that 93% of marketers use social media to promote their business.  It is the number one daily activity among Americans. Social media sites, email providers and the Google are eating up the largest chunk of the time spent over the internet. Social media is reaching beyond our traditional perception; it’s getting bigger and bigger with time. From a marketer’s Point of view, if you are not marketing on it, you are likely missing a large chunk of your target consumers. As a product of the Mark Zuckerberg generation, it is easy to understand why people are so obsessed with social media. For marketers, the potential to grow their business via these networks is endless. The following base strategies will help you take control of your social channels and give them a much needed facelift.

·         Create a game plan & stick to it.

·         Treat each channel as an individual entity.

·         Go above & beyond in Customer Service.

·         Embrace any kind of mishaps.

·         Track & talk.

·         Stay active on Google+.

To read more, see Margot da Cunha’s blog by visiting the following link address:

http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/01/09/social-media-marketing-strategies

Before choosing a Professional Employer Organization (PEO), it is very important to know what we want from a PEO. PEOs vary widely, in their size, focuses, and concentrations.  A PEO that works fine for one company may not be suitable for another.

Read more about what to consider when choosing the right PEO, at http://www.nextep.com/peo-goals/

Different financial services suffer high operational risks when there is market failure and industry transformation. In order to reduce the cost of risk management operations, financial organizations are seeking new models and methodologies. FMEA (Failure Mode and Effect Analysis) and Control charts are two very powerful Six Sigma tools which not only help to identify and prioritize risks but also monitor the risks. To know how FMEA and Control charts help in risk management, please go through the following article written by Abhishek Soni, a certified Six Sigma Black Belt and Project Management Professional.

http://www.isixsigma.com/industries/financial-services/leverage-six-sigma-to-manage-operational-risk-in-financial-services/

Legal firms are adopting Continuous Process Improvement as a part of their excellence program.

Yes, you have read it right.

Though Continuous Improvement, Lean and Six Sigma tools have touched almost every industry, legal firms are new ones to join. In fact, global giant Clifford Chance has rolled out training in Continuous Improvement methodologies as it is bringing up the concept of law in a more process oriented approach. The company is already reaping benefits from it. Their efficiencies have improved in several areas of operation – ranging from document review to reducing the cost of customary asset disposals for a client.

Sounds interesting? Read more at http://www.processexcellencenetwork.com/lean-six-sigma-business-transformation/articles/lawyers-jump-into-process-improvement.

An article written by Mike Bailey, owner of Grey Kite Resources, talks about how social media can play an important role in becoming an advocate for the organisation you work for. He mentioned that when employees share anything with their social networks, they reach 20 times more people than a typical brand sharing with the same number of followers. He also discussed about different guidelines to be followed for employee advocacy.

To know in details read the article on http://socialmediatoday.com/Beyond_Engagement/unleashing-power-employee-advocacy

The trend towards larger data sets is due to the additional information that can be derived from analysis of a single large set of related data, as compared to separate smaller sets with the same total amount of data. This is allowing better correlations to be found to spot business trends, determine the quality of research, prevent diseases, link legal citations, combat crime, and determines real-time roadway traffic conditions. Today, the applicability of Big Data analytics is not limited to only organizations. Big Data wings have established a longer reach beyond that sphere. Many apps are already in place to help people find the cheapest flights, improve their diets, even suggests how to become better drivers! From travel to shopping to health to civic life, big data got a role to play. Embracing Big Data analytics has already started paying dividends to the consumers. With more explorations, Big Data analytics is going to help each and every curve of consumer lifestyle in not so distant future!

A recent article posted in wall street journal by famous author Lora Kolodny, gives a detailed view on this subject. To read, click on the following link:

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303369904579423383203100794

Six Sigma is not just a toolbox. It is a way of thinking about business, about processes and about cause-and-effect relationships. To ensure success, the application of Six Sigma relies on traditional scientific methods to examine processes, remove undesirable causes and their effects. Six Sigma also seeks to innovate through the discovery of truth with refined, rational cognitive skills and the objective analysis of empirical data. It is a collection of tools. It is a methodology. It is a thought process that dissects the large picture into smaller parts and reassembles it into a more efficient configuration.

Many of the tools used for Six Sigma also proved useful in conjunction with TQM and other process improvement methodologies. While some of the tools are new to process improvement activities, it is important to note that Six Sigma also provides a new way to use existing tools. This leads to a debate about whether Six Sigma is something new or a new way to employ existing tools!

An article by Robert Tripp, Scot Shank and Mike Carnell, emphasizes on this debate and speaks about DMAIC phases of six sigma methodology. Visit the following link to access the article:

http://www.isixsigma.com/new-to-six-sigma/dmaic/six-sigma-toolbox/

Can enterprise IT learn some best practices from Industrial Engineering? Not so obvious? Yes. It can. Heavy engineering companies like automobile manufacturing or aerospace manufacturing, make use of process flow maps intensively to analyze steps, identify and eliminate wastes and more importantly get an accurate description of the process. Now, it is not that IT program managers do not use process flow maps at all, but a more holistic approach towards process flow mapping can give an idea of which steps can be automated to reduce cycle time. Well experienced program managers can implement this approach resulting in a more efficient and cost effective process.

Stephanie C. Hill, Vice President and General Manager of Lockheed Martin's Information Systems & Global Solutions Civil business, writes about how enterprise IT can learn best practices from Industrial Engineering. Read more at http://www.informationweek.com/government/leadership/what-enterprise-it-can-learn-from-industrial-engineering/d/d-id/1141589?piddl_msgid=207611.

To help your Enterprise IT team create detailed process flow maps, or to conduct Value Stream Mapping exercise or Lean Action Work Out to identify wastes and reduce Cycle Time, contact SigmaWay at contact@gosigmaway.com. We have experienced Black Belts and Master Black Belts who can chart out an operational excellence plan for you.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced the last date for the third round of new applications for 2015 Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). The following five key decisions will help organizations before joining the MSSP program. They are:

•        Estimate the number of Medicare beneficiaries for whom the prospective ACO(Accountable Care Organizations) wants to be accountable.

•        Determine an appropriate contracting vehicle through which to operate the ACO.

•        Consider the types of health care professionals and facilities the prospective ACO should target as participants.   

•         Set expectations for prospective ACO participants in advance.

•        Gather the appropriate staff to address particular aspects of the MSSP Application early and set milestones in advance of submission deadlines where possible.

To read more about this aspect, please visit Stephanie D. Willis’s (Associate of Mintz Levin) article link as given below: http://www.natlawreview.com/article/five-key-decisions-acos-accountable-care-organization-looking-to-participate-2015-ms 

Companies do a lot of expenditure on resources to analyze big data. But surprisingly, in most cases they fail to address the question of why they are doing so. Many times they use different high end big data software unnecessarily when there is a simpler solution. Before starting the analysis of big data, a proper data thinking approach is necessary. This will not only save company’s time and money, but also optimize resources. So before mining big data, we have to think analytically with some small data. It is data thinking that can prove to be really big.

Robert D. Behn, lecturer at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, talks more about defining a proper question before analyzing Big Data here:http://www.govexec.com/excellence/promising-practices/2014/04/got-big-data-first-define-your-big-question/81661/?oref=river .   

In order to become premier international financial company in the next millennium, Citibank, a Citigroup company, implemented quality initiatives to provide quick customer service anywhere in the world. They took the challenge of implementing Six Sigma to improve customer satisfaction by using methodologies like cycle time reduction (CTR), coupled with detection of defects using Six Sigma methods which resulted in significant improvements in process timeline, cash management and customer loyalty and satisfaction. To read more about this aspect please visit Rochelle Rucker’s (a freelance writer and publicist for Motivators Inc) article link as given below.

http://www.qualitydigest.com/dec99/html/citibank.html

The benefits of cloud-based ERP systems are well known. These solutions involve far less upfront investment, can be implemented in weeks instead of months or years & can be treated as operating expenditure rather than capital expenditure. Scalability is another advantage of cloud based ERP systems. However, if cloud based ERP solutions had no snags, then premise-based solutions would have disappeared years ago. As this is not the case, it’s worth examining the drawbacks of the SaaS model in ERP, which translate to the strengths of the premise-based model.

For a detailed view on this debate, please visit Tracey Schelmetic’s article link as given below:

http://www.thomasnet.com/journals/techtrends/articles/enterprise-resource-planning-better-on-premise-or-cloud-based

Data complexity is a major challenge faced by the healthcare industry. Now healthcare industry is going through a transformation phase. So companies like General Electric, 3M CO, Siemens and Xerox Corporation are taking initiatives to gain insights for making healthcare processes more efficient by the use of predictive analytics.

Read more at: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/analytics-a-shot-in-the-arm-for-healthcare-analyst-blog-cm337055

Robust demand for continuous improvement talent remains concentrated on lean skill sets, but Six Sigma shows renewed strength in a new study. A survey conducted by the Avery Point Group on 7097 internet job postings revealed the changing demands landscape for lean and Six Sigma talent.

To read more, visit the following link:

http://www.industryweek.com/lean-six-sigma/demand-six-sigma-talent-staging-comeback